Over 11,000 ethnic minority women gain access to micro-finance services

Illustrative image (Source: congthuong.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – More than 11,000 ethnic minority women in 18 provinces have gained access to micro-finance services under a four-year project.

The project, “Reach to Excel”, was implemented by CARE International in Vietnam, the Vietnam Women’s Union and Procter & Gamble (P&G), a leading corporation in fast consumer goods whose key clients are women.

It utilised CARE’s long-term experience in enabling Vietnam’s ethnic minority communities to better access micro-finance services, using CARE’s signature tool developed in 1990s – Village Savings and Loan Association, or VSLA.

Between January 2018 and December 2019, the project provided support for 5,196 ethnic minority women in the four northern mountainous provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La, Dien Bien, and Bac Kan.

In the second phase, from December 2020 to December 2021, 2,427 women gained access to the loans. Meanwhile, the number of beneficiaries stood at 1,416.

Le Kim Dung, Country Director of CARE International in Vietnam, said the model is considered a starting point to help ethnic minority women cement their solidarity and access other forms of financial services./.

VNA